ASI declares Mizorams Lianpui menhirs monument of nationwide significance

Ancient carved memorial stones, also called menhirs, discovered at a village in east Mizoram‘s Champhai district, have been formally declared a ‘monument of nationwide significance’ by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), officers mentioned on Friday (July 18, 2025).

Lianpui village close to the Myanmar border is house to the memorial stones, regionally generally known as Lungphun Ropui. The village is located 54 km southeast of Champhai city close to the India-Myanmar border, and it’s well-known for its wealthy repository of historical artefacts.

This is the second megalith web site in Mizoram to obtain nationwide recognition after ‘Kawtchhuah Ropui’ or Great Entranceway in Vangchhia village, which hosts over 170 engraved menhirs and is situated about 20 km south of Lianpui village, they mentioned.

The formal notification declaring the Lianpui menhirs as a monument of nationwide significance was issued by the Ministry of Culture on July 14, following years of analysis and inspection, they mentioned.

These antiquarian artefacts embody 114 intricately carved memorial stones, anthropic holes, petroglyphs, Y-shaped picket posts and historical pathways.

Also learn: Decoding Vangchhia’s historical artwork of holding water in rock amid Mizoram’s hills

The upright memorial stones at Lianpui bear detailed carvings of human figures, birds, animals, mithun heads, gongs, lizards, and different cultural motifs reflecting the cultural practices of the Mizos earlier than the appearance of Christianity, in response to officers.

The largest of such memorial stones measures 1.87 metres in top and 1.37 metres in width, they mentioned.

These menhirs are organized into eight alignments, with 4 oriented north-south and the opposite 4 east-west, they mentioned. Lianpui village was named after Lusei chief Lianpuia, who reportedly established the village within the 18th century CE.

Mizoram’s lone Rajya Sabha member, Okay. Vanlalvena, had knowledgeable the Parliament in March that the ASI, after a radical inspection by specialists, had discovered Lianpui village to own important archaeological heritage worthy of nationwide significance.

According to officers, the method of declaring the positioning of nationwide significance started in February 2021 with the publication of a preliminary notification within the Gazette of India, marking the graduation of a statutory process required beneath the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, for declaring protected monuments.

On July 7 this yr, ASI Director (Monuments) A.M.V. Subramanyam visited Lianpui village and confirmed that closing steps had been underway to declare the megalith web site of nationwide significance.

With no objections filed, the Centre finalised the notification declaring Lungphun Ropui a monument of nationwide significance and introduced the positioning beneath nationwide safety.

Meanwhile, residents of Lianpui village expressed happiness and thanked the Art and Culture minister C Lalsawivunga and Okay. Vanlalvena for his or her efforts in the direction of receiving the ASI’s tag.

Art and tradition division director Carol VLMS Dawngkimi additionally expressed happiness as a result of nationwide recognition and devoted the achievement to the onerous work of many people, notably former convener of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) Mizoram chapter P. Rohmingthanga.